No Home & No Heart
by Kusabiishi
Summary: Allen Walker never joined the Black Order. Instead, he awakened as the Fourteenth and was brought to Headquarters as a prisoner. Lavi was only supposed to observe and record, but he got involved. He got attached. "I have no home and no heart," Allen said with a smile, knuckle caressing the redhead's cheek. "But neither do you."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Look, another new story. Surprise, surprise, what can I say? I mainly started this because I wanted to write a Lavi/Allen story and Forsaken was _supposed _to be one when I started working on it, but it kicked me in the face and told me otherwise, _sooo_... Here's No Home &amp; No Heart! Complete with a crapsack editing job.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, won't own it, shouldn't own it.

* * *

Allen Walker.

That was the name he'd refused to give them after one of their own had taken advantage of his being injured in a fight to bring him in for questioning. It was his first meeting with the Black Order and he'd already started on a list of reasons why he didn't like them. Being tortured for information he didn't have was right at the top.

But he bit his lip and kept quiet. They'd seen the ashen gray skin, so it didn't matter what he said. No matter what he said, they wouldn't believe he was being hunted by the Earl as much as they were, if not more. Never did he breath a word. That was revenge for the marks they put on him—the fresh scars from Innocence-laced blades that burned his skin.

What he _did _know of the Earl's plans—it was a miniscule amount—he kept to himself because they would kill him when he outlived his use, even if he spilled ever secret. It would be a death more torturous than what they had subject him to since he'd been brought in, given killing a Noah was no small feat, even if you had ten tons of Innocence lying around to waste on the endeavor.

Minutes bled into hours before he realized that he didn't actually know if he'd been there one day or one _week_, though his stomach and throat told him the former was more likely.

He never spoke and he never cried, greeting the pain with silence when they returned for the next round though his wounds from the last hadn't yet stopped bleeding.

Once or twice, he'd caught himself thinking that it might be better to just die. Rather than endure, he'd be better off slipping into blissful unconscious and never waking up. It wasn't like he had anything—any_one_—waiting for him on the outside, save for maybe his master.

The only thing that kept those thoughts at bay was his promise to Mana; he'd swore to him that he would keep going.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been there before two new faces entered the room, along with his usual company.

"_This _is the Noah?"

It was the redhead who spoke. His voice was like silk and in just those four words, Allen had him pegged as a man who would say anything to get out of a situation he didn't like. He was a manipulator. A con-artist who wore a false face. Allen wasn't fooled. This man was easier to read than a book, probably because he'd looked at himself too many times in the mirror to _not _recognize the similarities.

"Yes, this is him."

The redhead leaned forward to get a good look at him. He was wiser than his appearance suggested, not daring to move even an inch closer than necessary. He wondered if some of his torturers had given him their words of warning, that he was more than happy to return the many favors.

Allen lifted his fire-filled gray eyes to meet the gaze of the other boy and with his youthful face no longer veiled by shadows, the redhead's lips parted.

"What the hell?! He's just a kid!"

"Lavi!" the older man yelled in return, apparently displeased by his misplaced outrage. Age was hardly a factor, but Allen had long lost the sense needed to so much as cock an eyebrow at such a display.

No, that was wrong. He'd lost the _strength_. A fierce ache and sharp pain had every pore in his body screaming at him for even a meager twitch of his fingers. He was half-tempted to try and count how many of his ribs were broken, but the raised voice that echoed off the walls of his cell made that difficult and his headache didn't help much.

"What could he _possibly _know?!" he yelled before he did what only an honest-to-god fool would do. He approached him, forgetting his earlier caution. Like the chains keeping him anchored to the wall were made of glass, it snapped with the flick of his wrist. Without even giving him enough time to gasp, the perfectly human fingers of his left hand wrapped around the redhead's throat.

Gold-speckled gray eyes looked into the single green one. A complex swirl of emotion stared back into unparallelled hatred. Allen saw a flicker of fear there, stemming from the hand pressed against his wind pipe, but there was also pity.

And that startled him.

His torturers followed them, brandishing the Innocence-imbued blades that made every cut and gash on Allen's skin ache at the mere sight of its eerie, green glow. It was the dread filling his chest that led to his grip slackening and Lavi slipping out of it with ease.

"Woah, woah! Hey, hey!" Lavi yelled as they drew closer, throwing his hands out to the sides to keep them from proceeding, even stepping closer to him to keep them at bay. Gray eyes widened, mouth falling open as he stared at the person standing over him—_protecting _him.

The Rose Cross emblazoned on his breast told Allen that he was an Exorcist, yet he stood his ground, committing what would no doubt be called treason.

His gestures gave the torturers pause and the mustachioed man who order them to do these things wore an ugly frown. Allen's lip twitched. A sick satisfaction washed over him, seeing how _unhappy _the Inspector was with the development.

"C-come on," Lavi said, the confidence he'd had a moment ago bending under the pressure of the stunned eyes of his comrades. "He's just scared. Right?" Lavi looked to him for an answer, but he didn't get one. Allen eyed the people that crowded around them and licked his lips to moisten them. He only succeeded in slathering blood on them.

Minutes passed with the redhead trying to talk down the torturers, insisting that he was fine and Allen was probably the "sort of guy who liked his personal space". While that was true, it meant little in this situation.

The redhead couldn't hide that he knew that—not from Allen's trained eye.

"Come on, just put down the knives, alright? You're not getting anywhere with those things, anyways."

It was true. The pain only served to further tighten Allen's lips. His refusal to tell them what they wanted to know had them coming back time and time again to make the same demands, yet he hadn't been broken yet.

He _wouldn't _break. He refused to incriminate his master and beg for death. So long as he could sing, fighting was still an option. Allen liked options.

Watching the display, Allen felt compelled to do something he hadn't done since he'd arrived. His lips parted and he spoke.

"Your name is Lavi?" he asked, his voice hoarse from disuse and dehydration. Wide eyes turned to look at him, no longer caring about the redheaded man that interrupted the shoddy interrogation. The dreaded and dangerous Noah had dared to _speak_ at long last—and it was to ask the name of the man keeping his torturers at bay.

Lavi grin grew when he did so. His arms fell back to his sides, no longer concerned with the torturers who'd frozen mid-step when the voice that contained a melodic quality reverberated through the air like even the words were a hymn.

"Yeah, that's me. What's your name, Shortstack?" He leaned over to look him in the eye, grabbing his knees to keep himself steady.

Gray eyes traced over the forms of the people standing behind the redhead. He didn't like to be called short, but now wasn't the time. His heart told him there'd be time to chastise him for it later, but his head told him that there wouldn't _be _a later.

Picking up on his discomfort, Lavi glanced over his shoulder at the other occupants of the room. "Uh, hey, Inspector Mustache."

If Allen had been drinking something—which he wasn't, they'd seen to that—he would've surely spit it right back out. Judging by the faces of everyone else, he'd say he wasn't alone.

"Mind giving me a few minutes alone with him?" Lavi asked, pulling on an a fake, exaggerated grin that only a fool would fall for. "Oh, and can someone bring me some water?"

"You—"

Just like that, the boy named Lavi was taking control of the situation with the ease of a politician. Each honeyed word made Allen less sure that he could trust the boy, but he was seriously considering entertaining the thought for a few minutes if it meant wetting his parched throat.

"Come on, what's that saying? You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?"

Allen wasn't that surprised when he was pulled aside by the old man he'd entered with, as well as the Inspector. Given what Allen could only assume was a "firm talking to", he was sure the boy would be led out and he'd be left to the whims of the Inspector. Instead, he Allen watched, shocked, as everyone filed out of the room until only the two of them remained. They left the broken chain there, the metal cuff still wrapped around his wrist.

They probably figured he wouldn't try anything—at least not until he got to see if that water Lavi had asked for was actually for him.

Another few seconds, they brought the water that Lavi had asked for.

With the water in hand, Lavi approached him and gave a slight shake of the cup, gesturing for him to take it. His two-toned eyes blinked up at the redhead, wondering if this was all some trick. That fake smile was somehow enough to alleviate his worries and he took the glass without another thought, greedily slurping the water down.

He downed the glass with ease and Lavi took it from him when he was done getting every last sip from it that he could. It was as Lavi sat the glass down next to him that Allen's mind started wandering.

Why had he stopped them? Why had he given him water? What game was he playing?

What could Allen do besides express his gratitude? The only thing he could offer in return was information and Allen wouldn't give that up no matter what happened, even _if_ he didn't know much about what they were asking.

"Th-thank you..."

He struggled to get the words out. They were only the second thing he'd said in God only knows how long. Someone drawing so much as a single sound out of him would've been an achievement a few hours ago.

"No problem, Shortstack!" Lavi said, earning a glare from the white-haired Noah. Funny how the this guy was coaxing him out of his shell by _insulting _him. He was playing right into his hands, but something kept Allen from saying so every time the redhead opened his mouth. It was his smile, he realized. In spite of it being a fabrication, its warmth comforted him. Something as simple as a smiled eased his aching body and calmed his nerves.

It was silly. Allen knew that.

It was _stupid_ and Allen knew that, too.

"I'm not short!"

"Oh yeah? Let's compare heights, Tiny Tim!"

"T-Tiny—" he sputtered, "No, I—"

He was given little choice when Lavi grabbed him by the arm and started helping him up. It was harder than it should have been, but between Lavi's help and using his freed arm as leverage on the wall, he soon found himself standing in an upright position. If not for the redhead's quick reflexes, he would've stumbled and hit the floor face first, too.

Mumbling a thanks, he straightened and they stood back to back, comparing heights. Lavi brought his hand up, pressing it to his skull before doing the same with Allen.

"What the— Are you on your toes, Shortstack?"

"_No_!" Allen said far too quickly. It was an admission of guilt—and defeat—if nothing else. To add insult to injury, Lavi started _laughing_. Allen's face was dashed with a deep, tropical hue and he elbowed the stupid sod in the middle of his back in retaliation.

"Yeouch!" Lavi yelled, rubbing his back where Allen's scaly elbow had struck him. "No need to get so defensive, Niblet!"

"_Niblet_? That's the worst one yet!"

"No way, it's cute!"

If not for that grin of his, Allen probably would've smacked him. He wasn't sure whether to be irritated by his behavior or be appalled that it was actually doing wonders to bright his day. Well, as bright as it could be in a dungeon, anyways. Lavi was like a ray of sunshine that had come waltzing into the darkest corner of the Black Order as if he owned the place.

Whether or not that was his intention was another matter.

"My _name _is _Allen_!" he yelled, forgetting for a moment that he hadn't told any of them that yet. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew he'd been played. _That _was his game. He made himself look like an idiot to bring Allen's guard down, then got him all riled up to seal the deal.

But that wasn't going to work! He refused to let it work any more than it already had!

"Nice name," he complimented before flinging his arm around Allen's shoulders and pulling him close to him. He had half a mind to push him away, if not because he had proved able to pull any kind of information out of him, then because he was uncomfortable with their proximity. "But you're still a shortie!"

"Do you know what 'personal space' is, Lavi?"

"Only on Tuesdays!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Annnd chapter two! Literally the only reason Lavi calls Lvellie "Inspect Mustache" is because I couldn't remember how to spell his name when I wrote the first chapter and I was too lazy to look it up, haha. My sister's response to it was, "Do-do-do-doo-doo Inspect Mustache."  
There's a pretty clear poke at Midnight Phantasma's Timely Mishaps. If you read it—and if you don't, _you should_—you'll probably see it. I only changed who said it, since Allen couldn't for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer: **I own absolutely nothing!

* * *

That was the last he saw of Lavi for several days—or perhaps it was mere hours. He couldn't say. After Lavi had departed, Allen had expected "Inspector Mustache" to come waltzing in and demand that he explain who "Allen" was exactly, but that never happened.

Someone eventually came in and rebound his hand, but that was the bulk of his visits for some time. He could hope that for their sake, they did a better job of binding it than before. They could seal his Innocence and make it feel like he carried an anchor on his wrist, but little could be done for the human arm—and his "human" arm was the whole problem, because it didn't belong to a human.

Gold speckled eyes stayed focused on the door and it took him the better part of what was probably an hour to realize what he was waiting for. There was a small flicker of hope that the redhead would return and perhaps brighten his day when he came. Locked in this cell all day, he had precious little else to look forward to, so that was all he _could _hope for.

In this place, Lavi was the closest thing he had to a friend and that was saying something, considering he barely qualified as an acquaintance.

Ultimately, he was alone.

A shock of pain ran up his left arm and he hissed at the sharp reminder that he still had _someone _at least. "Sorry," he mumbled under his breath to the Innocence embedded in his hand.

When the door at last opened, there was no proper way to accurately depict his disappointment when he saw the dreaded inspector, rather than the redheaded Exorcist he'd hoped for. He didn't come alone, of course. He never did. Whenever he came, it was with half a battalion, ready to strike down the _evil _Noah over the most minor of infractions.

"Are you ready to talk yet, you disgusting little creature?"

Allen remained silent. As things stood, that was his only form of rebellion and he well intended on using it, even if he managed to do nothing more than annoy him.

His refusal to respond wasn't taken well. A knee collided with his jaw a second later and he bit back a holler. Something told him he ought to be glad it was humans doing this, not the Noah, but he still couldn't bring himself to hate it any less. Every wound would heal because he wasn't human.

Because he was a Noah, they had to try twice as hard to hurt him.

Even with a high pain tolerance that stemmed from trying to fight off the Noah and Akuma on more than a couple of occasions, he thought for a second that he didn't want to be here. It didn't matter where he went so long as he could get away from these humans who kept shoving what he was in his face like he wasn't already aware—like he'd _chosen_ this.

Their words cut deeper than their blades did. Wasn't he already ashamed enough?

"Why don't you just give in, _Noah_?" the inspector asked as he spit the final word out. A ghost of a smile swept across Allen's face when the inspector didn't dare to take a step towards him. Not only was this man scared of him, he was also content to let everyone else get their hands dirty with his blackened blood. _He _was too good for it.

The man kept his distance like the sun did, only it was because he was a coward and a weakling, but that was stating the obvious.

He glowered down at him, but Allen didn't meet his eyes. His blank stare faced forward; he refused to address them further, even with his eyes. As expected, the Inspector didn't care for that.

One of his lackeys kicked him in the face. He fell harshly against the floor, stopped only by the chains that bound him and scratched his cheek on the chipped tiles. Where he fell was where he stayed, not bothering to move because he knew another attack would follow it and there would be little point.

They drew their Innocence-laced knives and for at least a little while, Allen forgot all about Lavi.

"Hey, Al, I brought— Woah, what happened to you?"

"What do you think?" Allen asked dryly, glancing up at he wiped the blood leaking from the gash on his cheek onto what remained of his shirt's sleeve. Lavi fell silence for a moment and in an attempt to turn the conversation away from his fresh injuries, Allen nodded his head at the tray Lavi carried. "What's that?"

At the mention of the tray, Lavi visibly brightened and practically _skipped _to his side. "Well, I didn't know what you liked, but I brought you some vegetable soup!"

The minute the lid was off, Allen turned his head away from it like he'd been burned. It smelled and looked delicious, but there was the constant reminder in the parts of his brain _not _ruled by his stomach that didn't let him forget that there could be truth serum in the food.

"What's wrong, Shortstack?"

"It's _Allen_," he said through gritted teeth. "And I'm not eating that."

"No way! I had Jerry—he's the Order's chef, by the way—make it special for you! I mean, he thought it was for me, but who cares?" Lavi scooped up some of the soup in the accompanying spoon and pushed it towards Allen's lips. It was probably a comical sight, seeing Lavi trying to force feed him soup, but Allen wasn't laughing.

"I promise there's nothing in it in it. I mean, besides a couple leeks and carrots and potatoes and— Oh! If you look real close here, there's some parsley!"

If Lavi's beaming face was any more convincing, Allen might've accepted that. He practically sung the words and Allen's stomach groaned knowing the pitch wouldn't alleviate Allen's concerns. He'd be lucky if he finished the whole bowl of soup before he started blurting out every known thing about himself and the family he supposedly hailed from. By the time he was through with the bowl and spilling his guts, they'd probably have a dissertation on his dietary habits. "Come on, it's not like I work for the Order."

"You're an Exor—"

Allen shouldn't have pointed that out, but he realized that a second too late. The minute his mouth was open, Lavi shoved the spoon in and he clasped a hand over his mouth to keep him from spitting it back out.

Well, he could've spit the broth out, but that would do little good for the of the soup's contents.

"I'm a Bookman, actually," Lavi said, taking him by surprise. Allen relented and swallowed the soup, Lavi finally pulling his hand away. "Well, I'm just an apprentice, but I'll be one soon!"

Allen had heard of the Bookman clan in passing. They recorded history; they took sides based on convenience and whether or not there was history to be recorded there. Matters of morality were disregarded; they saw nothing but the history they needed to put into ink.

Wait, did that mean...

Lavi pulled away his hand and Allen cocked and eyebrow at him. "So you didn't tell them my name?"

"It's just a name, Shortstack."

As if to emphasize his displeasure, he glared at the other boy, but the expression was forgotten when Lavi held up another spoonful for him. No coaxing was needed this time. It was on the second mouthful that he realized how _good _it was. it had been a long time since he'd tasted something so delicious.

"I didn't," Lavi said finally, grinning at him. "If they knew I actually found something, they might insist on following me back in here. Even if it's something teensy like your name."

"And why would that be a problem for you?"

"We all need a mace up our sleeve, right?"

"An _ace_," Allen corrected before Lavi shoveled another bite into his mouth, probably to shut up him up. It worked, too. Allen was far more invested in the soup than the conversation.

"At least I can bludgeon someone with a mace."

Allen nearly spit the soup back out and into Lavi's face. The comment was so dry that he half-expected the redhead to pull one out and start bludgeoning _him _with it. Gray eyes narrowed at the enigmatic Exorcist—Bookman apprentice, he reminded himself—who had his own way, to say the very least.

"Knowledge is power, right?" he said, his rhetorical question was met with a closemouthed stare and it stayed that way until Allen finished off the bowl of soup. The silence was oddly comforting and Allen found himself starting to relax in the Bookman's presence.

As Allen finished his meal, Lavi stood. "Gimme a few minutes, Shortstack. I'll be back."

"... Alright," Allen muttered quietly as he left with the tray in hand. He didn't expect him to return, so he was surprised when he did. Ten or twenty minutes later, he returned and brought something new with him. Allen raised an eyebrow. "A first aid kit?"

"Yeah, don't want these cuts getting infected, right?"

Allen's mouth fell open and for several minutes, it refused to work. This degree of kindness—if it was even that—was beyond foreign to Allen; he had lived a lackluster childhood filled with abuse and when he found happiness, it was destroyed on the eve of his tenth birthday. And then he started training as an Exorcist and awakened as the Fourteenth Noah.

God had a sense of humor, if nothing else, and it often involved torturing him in as many ways as possible.

"It doesn't matter," Allen said, leaning out of the redhead's reach when he came near him with a damp cloth. "They'll be back soon enough and then it won't matter."

Lavi didn't back down. Instead, he pushed onward, wiping down the cut on his cheek. He worked quickly, cleaning the before switching to an alcohol swab. Allen grimaced when he touched the item to his cheek, the alcohol burning the fresh gash on his cheek that was still wet with blood, though it had long ago stopped dripping down to match the scar on the opposite side of his face.

Seeing the face he made, Lavi smirked.

"What's wrong? Big, bad Noah can't take a little alcohol swab?"

"_Lavi,_" he growled in warning, but it did little to quiet the redhead's mad giggling. Allen didn't protest further, content on letting him waste his time. It wasn't as though Allen had somewhere to be. He'd be there, if he did.

When he eventually slapped a band-aid over the wound, Allen tried to fight back the soft smile creeping onto his face. Lavi played stupid, but he was sweet, even if something in the back of his mind kept reminding him that this was all just an act to lull him into a false sense of security so he would spill all his secrets.

Allen wanted to say it wasn't working.

"Alright, Shortstack, I gotta get outta here before they realize I'm here."

"Wait, you're not supposed to be here?" Allen asked, but received no answer. Instead, Lavi cast a grin over his shoulder at him as he bolted from the room. It was mere minutes later that his torturers returned. When they asked who'd treated the gash on his face, he met their question with the same smile that Lavi had given him moments before.

"Jeez, again?"

Lavi stumbled back in a while later and Allen greeted him with slight twitch of his fingers. Given his bindings on the one hand, it was impossible to do much else—and the other, they had managed to break. Allen wasn't sure if he was impressed or pissed.

"They really did a number on you this time, Niblet," he said and Allen didn't miss that his typical smile remained absent. Allen cocked an eyebrow, but didn't dare comment. As soon as he did, the exaggerated smiles would return to hide whatever story was behind the lapse. This he knew from the short time they'd known each other.

Allen pursed his lips before saying, "I've had worse."

"Really now? No offense, but you look a little soft."

"Judging a book by its cover, Bookman?" Allen asked, cracking an amused smile when he saw the way Lavi rubbed the back of his neck. A nervous habit, but a fake one. "The other Noah strike a lot harder than this when they're just messing around."

_That _caught Lavi's undivided attention. "You've fought the other Noah? But you're one of them."

"In name only," Allen said, "Now was there something you wanted, or were you just going to bother me by pointing out everything I already know?" He didn't mean to snap, but the words were out of his mouth before he could think to hold them back. He hated being lumped in with those sick bastards.

"Damn, _somebody's _cranky! Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"There's two problems with that sentence."

"Right..." Lavi deflated slightly, as if reminded of Allen's situation. Please. As if he could forget he was sitting in the Order's dungeon when Allen was right in front of him _chained to a wall_.

"Let's play a game, Al!" Allen couldn't help but stare.

"Oh my _God_, you called me by my name." _Sort of_, Allen wanted to add. He wasn't about to complain that he'd shortened it. At least he wasn't called him Shortstack anymore. Or Niblet. _Or Tiny Tim_.

"Hey, it's not _that_ surprising!" Lavi said, bearing one of his usual grins at him. "But like I said, let's play a game. An answer for answer."

"An answer for an answer?" Allen asked incredulously. "I've never heard of it."

Not that he had much experience with _games_, anyways, but this was an unusual one.

"Well, it's not exactly _popular_. I learned it from a hermit camping out in the woods in a tree," Lavi said and Allen raised an eyebrow at him. A hermit in the woods? _Really_, Lavi? He was tempted to ask why he'd been playing games with such a man, but Lavi continued before he had the chance.

"Basically," Lavi said, undeterred by the look Allen was giving him. "You ask me a question and I give you an honest answer and then you do the same."

"Sounds less like a game and more like an interrogation."

Lavi laughed, as if something was actually funny about what he'd said. "Yeah, I guess it does. But it's just me and you, right? No big deal."

Allen hummed thoughtfully, mulling over his options. He _did _have a couple of questions for the older boy, particularly regarding his motivations. A deep frown spread across Allen's face before finally he said, "Alright, Lavi, what's your game?"

"I told you: Knowledge is power."

"What does that even—"

Lavi held a finger up to silence him. "Nope, that was your question, Tiny Tim! It's my turn now," he said and his grin was probably the only reason Allen didn't kick him in the head. "You said that you're a Noah in name only, but what did you mean?"

"They're hunting me," Allen said and watched as Lavi opened his mouth to follow up. Allen mimicked Lavi's earlier words, pulling on a sly smile. "Ah, ah, that's another question, Lavi. It's my turn now."

Allen relished in the way he pouted. The sweet taste of revenge was almost as good as the soup he'd given him before. "If you're just here for knowledge, is that why you're being so kind?"

"Well, yeah, you lead more flies with honey," Lavi said, his honesty taking him by surprise. "Though you benefit, so it's not so bad, right?"

"Is that your question?"

"Is that yours?"

A genuine smile crept onto Allen's face. They went back and forth like that for some time. What started off as a serious questionnaire devolved to silly ones that had no place between a prisoner and one of his captors. Smiles evolved into chuckles before becoming full blown laughter. At some point, they lost sight of the game and for a moment, Allen honestly forgot that he was just a prisoner.

Sitting there in Lavi's presence, he felt like a welcome addition to the family that was the Black Order.

He'd give anything for something like what these Exorcists had. Besides his Innocence, all he had was a homicidal Uncle living in his head, trying to take over his body and turn his brain to mush. And that had been the last gift had father had given him.

Prior to his death, anyways.

"And then Daisya said, 'I guess Kanda can be the bearded lady, then! He already looks like a girl!'"

Allen erupted with laughter, tears of mirth brimming on the edges of his eyes.

"Wh-What were we even talking about before?" Lavi asked through his laughter and Allen had a hard time giving him an answer through his own chortling.

"I d-don't remember!"

In spite of the aching pain of his broken right arm and his being chained to a wall, his smile refused to fall. Something about Lavi, regardless of the authenticity of his grin, compelled that reaction. His kindness was a welcome change amidst the pain that his torturers offered and fear that the Noah inspired.

With how Lavi acted, it was hard to _not_ forget those things for the moment.

But all good things come to an end and this one crashed to a halt with a grating screech. The handle sunk, turned by someone on the other side.

"Lavi!" Allen hissed right before the door opened. Allen's first thought was that the redhead would get into trouble for being there. Charged with treason for keeping him company, even if he _was _a Bookman. His lips parted and he surprised even himself when he started to sing. The men entering the room startled at the sound.

"What is he doing?!" a familiar inspector screamed and Lavi started to answer before he noticed how their gazes moved right over him. They looked through him like he was little more than a ghost. A green eye turned to look at him quizzically. Gray eyes stared him down and Lavi understood his silent plea.

_Run._

Lavi left the room, shielded from sight by the lyrics flowing off his tongue. It was why Allen kept singing even after Inspector Lvellie gave his next order.

"Quick!" he yelled to his remaining men, who grabbed his arms and pressed them hard against the stone wall. It didn't stop Allen's song; he didn't pause, but his voice shook.

He knew what was coming.

"Cut his vocal chords!"

The scream that tore its way out of his throat shook the whole tower like an earthquake. The sound died as quickly as it had come, as if it had never been, and the only thing left behind was the disheveled Order staff, overturned furniture and broken baubles that had tumbled off shelves.

Not a soul missed the ear-piercing screech that embodied the pure terror of its owner.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Yay, new chapter~ Wanted to get this out last weekend, but it was a shitty week. If I said I didn't feel like doing it, that would be a gross understatement!

**Disclaimer: **I own absolutely nothing, least of all a wonderful manga like DGM!

* * *

When Lavi approached the door, the guards dispersed. He'd lied to Allen and because of that, his scream had haunted his dreams for the last couple nights. It warped good dreams into godawful nightmares, like Allen himself was quietly cursing him for his transgressions. Not that he would _blame _him, not even for a second.

Something told him he shouldn't go back. Hell, he never even should have _started _going.

Allen's song had filled the air and his tormentors had filed into the room and looked past Lavi as if he didn't exist. After hearing him screaming, how could Lavi _not _go back? No one could shriek like that and remain okay. Even those on the highest levels of the tower had heard it—they had _felt _it. People had tumbled to the floor. One of the scientists had been hurt by a falling bookshelf and several staff members were bedridden. A few of the other Exorcists were, like Lavi, plagued by night terrors.

Whatever had happened to him, it had ultimately been Lavi's fault.

Lavi pushed the door open and stepped inside, no longer caring to hide his lie, stopping only to slip something from the guard's pocket at they passed each other. Something deep in his chest was screaming at him to come clean. It was a pain that grew with each passing minute and as soon as his green eye laid on Allen, he identified it. The sight of the boy a few years younger than him had his eyes wide. A gash ran horizontally across his neck. Blood ran down his neck onto his chest, staining the once pure white collar.

"Holy shit, Al," he breathed, shocked—_horrified_—at the sight of him. "D-Did they—"

Lavi took a step forward and Allen startled, like he'd only just realized he was there. He paused, holding up both of his hands as Allen's two-toned eyes took in his appearance. The underlying fear in his eyes disappeared when he realized who was standing in front of him.

Sitting down next to him, he reached up and touched his right arm. Previously broken, it seemed to have righted itself by now. There was still a twitch of pain when Lavi touched it gingerly, but it was nearly there. His Noah blood was working hard to keep him alive and well, it seemed.

Could it fix something like this, though?

He pulled the object he'd pilfered from the guard from his pocket and pushed it into the metal cuff that bound the boy. It gave away and fell back against the wall and he moved to release the other hand, but was thwarted in his attempt. An arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him close.

"... Al?" Lavi muttered quietly, taken aback by the gesture of affection—or maybe it wasn't, when he realized the boy was trembling with the intensity of a leaf caught in a raging windstorm.

It was contact that Lavi wasn't used to, barring the exaggerated gestures of affection that he handed out to damn near anyone who made the mistake of looking at him. There was this niggling feeling that Allen was no more used to it than him, but that hadn't stopped him. The _dangerous _and _evil _Noah had thrown an arm around him in search of warmth in the cold, damp darkness of his prison, looking for comfort in a world that would would otherwise offer none.

Pushing away his shock, Lavi calmly reached up and undid the other binding. For the first time since he'd arrived, Allen was completely free of his bindings and what did he do with the closest thing he had to freedom? He wrapped his other arm around him. When Lavi returned his embrace, the hyperventilating escalated into soundless sobs. Fingers gripped at the fabric of his uniform as hot tears dirtied his collar.

Lavi couldn't bring himself to care about something so trivial with the quivering boy in his arms, one hand weaving into white hair and the other rubbing circles into his back.

This was his fault. For fear of being caught in a lie, he'd fled and left Allen to the whims of Lvellie. The damage done to his voice was because he'd been trying to protect him.

It was several minutes before Allen finally drew back, blinking away whatever tears hadn't come off on Lavi's collar. Allen touched the dampened fabric, as if to apologize and Lavi flashed him a small smile to assure him that he'd done no wrong.

These were the tears that Allen refused to cry in front of his torturers; he'd saved them for him instead.

He _trusted _him, Lavi realized with some amount of horror.

Lavi leaned back, but Allen moved with him, refusing to release the grip he had on him. His arms dropped to Allen's waist, sitting there lazily. As little time as they'd known each other, this should have been awkward. But it wasn't. It felt natural, as if this were the natural progression of things.

Just the thought that this was meant to happen to Allen made Lavi want to punch himself in the face.

_He's scared_, Lavi reminded himself. Where had the boy who'd glared at Lvellie and refused to give him even a lick of satisfaction gone? Allen had lost his voice. His last line of defense had been struck down trying to protect _him_. The confidence that Allen had had against Lvellie and his other torturers was gone because his only weapon had been taken from him.

Now he was powerless. No matter what they did, stopping them was out of the realm of possibilities for him.

Allen was a sitting duck and he wasn't oblivious to that fact.

Allen was stuck in this situation and there was little Lavi had to offer that would help. Rather, he'd made it _worse_. Any comfort he may have found in his presence was replaced only by fear. There was nothing Lavi could do to save him and they both knew that; it wasn't something that could be hidden.

"Allen, I—"

Whether he wanted to apologize or confess, Lavi didn't honestly know, but the boy cut him off when one of his arms slipped from around his shoulders—the sleek, red one that had a texture not unlike scales and was so dark, it was almost the color of charcoal—and took his hand.

It took him several seconds to realize that what he'd thought was Allen absentmindedly drawing circle on the surface of Lavi's palm was actually _letters_. In whatever way he could, he continued communicating with him. Lavi quietly took in what he was writing to him, making sense of the ceaseless string of letters and words in his head.

_I'll be fine; I'm a Noah. Everything comes back._

Lavi bit his lip, guilt eating away at him. He wanted to punch the bastard who'd ordered this. He wanted to punch _himself _for letting it happen and not lifting a finger to help him.

He wanted to get up, walk out and never look back because that's what he should've done in the first place instead of fostering another relationship like the ones he had with a couple of the Exorcists within the Order. Only a few visits and the boy had already gotten under his skin somehow. He could feel the loose attachments growing stronger, marking him as a failure of a Bookman.

Walking away was the _least _he should've done, but the one arm that still rested on his shoulders kept him from pulling away and the body nearly sitting in his lap now bid him not to _push_ him away.

Instead, Lavi blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You're not _fine_," he said, spitting the word out like it pained him to say it and it did. Nothing Allen had said or done implied he was the dreaded, dangerous, _demented_ Noah that the others claimed him to be. "You're being _tortured_, Allen."

_I know, _he wrote into his palm again, this time with far less confidence and some amount of hesitation. Whoever could look at Allen and not feel pity for him either had a will stronger than Lavi's or was a complete bastard like Lvellie. It made him sentimental; it made him _angry _because he was neither blind nor oblivious to the injustices staring him in the face.

But a Bookman had no use for a heart. Lavi was no exception, yet the shriveled up organ lodged in his chest bloomed and blossomed in the boy's presence. There was something in the boy's occasional smile that brought it out, like he carried the sun itself on his shoulders.

Maybe that was why he couldn't bring himself to push him away—even though he _should_ have because whatever budding friendship they had would make things harder. Maybe it was the way that Allen looked like he'd fall apart if he let go of him. Maybe Lavi was waiting for the rain to go away, the clouds to part and the sun to shin again.

Maybe it was because they were the same.

"Hey, Al," Lavi started, licking his lips. Something compelled him to tell him. It had been a lie. He was _supposed _to be here. Seeing him like this was painful and the way he clung to him only made things worse. Gold-speckled eyes met his single green one and the words caught in his throat. Guilt was replaced by fear and the resolve to tell him withered and died in an instant. "... No, nevermind."

_What's wrong?_

That was what he wrote into the palm of his hand. He adverted his eyes. Once upon a time, Lavi could hide anything he wanted from anyone behind a smile, yet Allen could read more into the false persona than half the people at the Order could. Their few days together had surpassed all the time he'd spent at the Order.

"I... won't be coming back for a while," Lavi said after a couple minutes of crippling silence. It wasn't what he wanted to say, but the gold-speckled eyes boring into his own bid him to share _something_. At the revelation, Allen stiffened. It was the slightest of reactions, but Lavi noticed it. He _felt _it in the arm still wrapped around his shoulders and the body that sat so close to his own.

Lavi hurried to elaborate. "Not because I don't want to! They're sending me out on a mission and, well... It might take a while."

Allen didn't have to write out his question for him to understand it. It sat there in his eyes, awaiting an answer that Lavi wasn't sure he should give. But Allen was trapped. Locked up in the deepest, darkest part of the Order's prison as he was, what could he possibly hope to achieve with the barest details of his mission other than to satisfy his curiosity?

"A General's been killed, so they want the Exorcists looking for and protecting the others," Lavi said and Allen's wide eyes spoke volumes of his concern. But what was it for? "They want me and a few others looking for General Cross."

Whatever had caused Allen's eyes to go wide disappeared. At the mention of Cross, he calmed and wrote more into his palm.

_Go to Edo._

"What's in Edo?" Lavi asked, unable to contain his curiosity. From the report he'd read, Allen had been in China at the time of his capture. Was it possible...?

_That's where I was heading to meet him._

"You— You were going to meet General Cross when you were captured?" Lavi's question was met with a small nod. _The plot thickens_, he wanted to say, but opted instead to ask another question. "Why Edo, though? It's the Earl's territory."

This time, Allen hesitated to answer. Scaled fingers traced nonsensical patterns into the palm of his hand and Lavi found a small smile worming its way onto his face. "You don't have to tell me," Lavi said, the words out of his mouth before he realized it. Why would he say that? Knowledge was power, right? He himself had said that to Allen just the other day—more than once, in fact.

To hold back whatever these feelings he had for this boy might make him say, he bit his lips. Something about Allen made him the exception to the rule. Something in his eyes, in the melodic lilt of his voice, made the whole world dissolve into nothing.

_Look for Timcanpy in China, _he continued to write, no longer deterred by whatever had been plaguing him a moment ago. _He'll lead you to my master._

It took all of two seconds for Lavi to realize who Allen meant by "Master". Allen was General Cross's apprentice. This _Noah_ was the apprentice of a fucking _General._

Lavi could have laughed at the irony of at all. They'd been keeping an apprentice Exorcist hostage. They'd been _torturing _General Cross's apprentice. If it wasn't so disgusting, it would've been funny.

"Thanks, Al," Lavi said and pulled on a genuine smile for the first time since they'd met. It hadn't been long, but Allen had already wormed his way under his skin. "I need to get going now."

Allen nodded, but the crestfallen expression on his face told him what he thought of it. He pushed off of him and back against the wall, where Lavi set about fastening the bindings again. Before he could finish, Allen stopped him. He grabbed him by the arm and Lavi paused in his actions.

Once again, Allen traced what he wanted to say into the palm of his hand. _You will come back, though, right?_

Lavi couldn't keep himself from smiling and said, "Yeah, 'course. I'll be back before you know it, Niblet."

_Be careful,_ he said to him without ever opening his mouth, the two words written onto his palm like a tattoo on his heart. Lavi stood surprised for a moment before he eased Allen's arm back and locked it in place. With Allen's worried eyes starting at him, it proved too hard for him to simply turn and leave. Instead, he pulled a white handkerchief from his back pocket and set about cleaning the blood off the boy's neck. Had he more than a white cloth and his saliva to work with it, the process would've been much faster, but Allen didn't seemed to mind. When he was done, he pocketed the stained cloth and then surprised both himself and the boy sitting in front of him.

He pulled off his bandanna and pulled it over Allen's head. "I'll be coming back for that, okay? So take good care of it."

With the blood off his face and his long bangs no longer obscuring his face, Lavi had to admit that he was quite cute, in spit of the unusual scar—tattoo?—on the left side of his face. Without a doubt, he'd be handsome after having a few more years to mature.

A crooked smile spread across Lavi's face at the way the white-haired Noah's mouth fell open in shock. "See ya later, Al."

They were supposed to be leaving soon—him, the old panda, Lenalee and Kanda, that is. The Order didn't have a lead, so their only idea was to wander around blindly and hope for the best.

But Lavi _did _have a lead. A good one, at that, straight from the apprentice of the guy.

When Komui was briefing them on how they'd be going about looking for the man, Lavi saw fit to intervene. After all, the plan—which mainly consisted of running around like chickens with their heads cut off—was lackluster on a good day and downright terrible on any other. "Hey, Komui, I have an idea!"

The others looked up, clearly surprised by Lavi's sudden stroke of sheer brilliance. A grin lit up his face.

"We should go to Edo."

"_Edo_?" Komui repeated, along with several of the others. "Why Edo?"

"Well, ya see, a little birdie told me that's where Cross is headed," he said, choosing not to mention that the little birdie was in the lowest levels of the Order's dungeon. Things were bad enough for Allen when they only _thought_ he knew something. If only to make up for the pain he put him through, he had no intention of telling them he actually _did _know a thing or two.

Lavi trusted Komui not to hurt Allen; it was _his_ superiors that he didn't trust.

"What 'little birdie'?"

"It was a dove with clipped wings," he said and his smile never faded, turning wistful at the thought of the boy he'd left his favorite bandanna with. Komui opened his mouth to continue, but Lavi didn't let him. "C'mon, it comes from a reliable source, I swear. I even know where Timcanpy's at."

He could feel his master's eyes on the back of his head because he knew _exactly _who the dove was. That was fine. Lavi would give him all the details later. For now, little else mattered besides following up on the lead Allen gave him and protecting the boy in the only way he could.

If Cross was here, maybe he could do something to help him.

Komui hummed, mulling over the possibility of following up on Lavi's so-called lead when Lenalee asked something, leaning forward to get a good look at the redhead. "Where's your bandanna, Lavi?"

Like so many other things, Lavi wrote off her concerns with a smile.

"Oh, I dunno. Guess I left it somewhere."

From the corner of his eye, he could see the way Komui's own eyes narrowed. Lavi remained oblivious—or he pretended to, anyways—to the man's suspicions and he eventually relented.

"Alright, Lavi, we'll check out your lead," he said, stopping only to take a sip of his coffee and probably hide his deepening frown behind the rim of his mug. "But you _must_ be careful. Edo is the Earl's country now."

And Lavi laughed like he always did, even though he'd said the same thing when his little dove had given him the information. "Don't worry so much, Komui! We'll be fine!"

Little did he know, he'd be hard pressed to say the same thing when they arrived.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Woohoo! Another chapter! I should probably update my other fanfiction, _but_... Ahaha. This one seems to be working a lot nicer with me—so far, anyways.

* * *

Harsh breaths came from the boy, blood leaking from the cuts that laid over his clouded eyes. Every sound, no matter how distant, made him jump. His bound hands twitched with fearful anticipation and already harsh breaths came harder with every passing second.

The pressure in his chest was enough to tell him that he had an anxiety attack coming on. The hard time he was having drawing in breath only emphasized it. Allen couldn't show them the effect it had on him. They'd seen him weak once and he didn't intend on letting it be seen again.

The sounds of footsteps in the dead silent hall drew closer and closer until the door opened. Steeling himself for whatever was to come, he opened his eyes and was greeted with the same, inky blackness he'd been seeing since they'd blinded him several hours before.

Fear gripped him, but he refused to look weak. What could they possibly do to him now?

"So you're the 'little dove'."

The voice that spoke was new. Never had he heard it in his life, but he'd be happy if he never heard it again. Of course, Allen would never be that lucky, if the past few weeks—months?—were any indication. As many times as he'd been called "little", "dove" was new. But the new voice couldn't leave it at that.

"That's Lavi's bandana."

"So?" he bit out, voice raspy as a side effect of his vocal chords still in the process of healing. If not for his bound hands, he would've tugged the bandana over his eyes and nose—because apparently his initial silence wasn't enough for this stranger to realize he wasn't interested in idle chatter.

He wondered if the soft material smelled like the redhead, if it would keep him company in the quiet darkness his world had been swathed in the moment Lavi had left. Without a doubt, it reeked of his own blood, but that thought didn't alleviate his curiosity.

... He wanted to return to the comfort of being wrapped up in Lavi's arms and he wasn't sure if that scared or excited him.

"I... I want to ask you a favor," the voice said and Allen honestly laughed. That single word and his laugh was the most he'd spoken since he'd arrived here, save for when speaking to Lavi.

The stranger understood what he meant just by his laugh. These godforsaken people had tortured him; they'd cut his vocal chords and blinded him. He was still suffering from both, but with all of that, they dared to ask _him_ for a _favor_? As if he _owed_ them something?

"It involves Lavi."

The disbelief and twinge of anger faded in an instant when he heard that. His concern only deepened when the owner of the distinctly male voice continued, "Over half of our Cross team disappeared into some kind of portal. The report says that a white cube appeared overhead and I suspect that's where they're trapped."

Allen voiced what he was most worried about. "And Lavi?"

"He was one of the Exorcists pulled in."

Hearing those words, the blood in his veins went cold and his mouth went dry. It was hard to speak and the main contributor to that wasn't his slit vocal chords that were in the process of healing. It was worry that gripped him, twisting his stomach into knots. Had the Earl trapped them inside the Ark? _Why?_

"I'll admit that I came to you in part because one of the Exorcists is my little sister, the only family I have left," he said and Allen bit his lip at the mention of family to hold back the scathing words that threatened to spill from them. How could he sympathize with a man for any reason when he worked for an organization that condoned torture based on groundless facts? No one would ever think to pity him for the father he'd lost and never did they think twice about the boy who had no family left to speak of.

"If I free you," he started, taking Allen by surprise with his words. "Will you save them? _Can _you save them?"

Allen wanted to refuse. They'd _tortured_ him; he owed them nothing, yet something swelled in his chest that demanded he give a different answer. It felt as though he might choke on the feeling and the aching of his heart didn't help. The thought of not seeing Lavi again caused a shock of violent pain to wash over him.

He had to come back.

He had to.

He'd promised to come back for the bandana, after all.

Who else was going to keep him company? Who else would clean up the cuts on his face? Who would be his guiding light in this black abyssal hell that the Black Order was so keen on subjecting him to?

_"I'll be back before you know it, Niblet."_

The words echoed in his head and sightless eyes widened when the owner realized the Order had done nothing to endanger Lavi. It had been him. He'd told him where to go; he'd sent him straight to his death in his attempts to help. He'd told him about Cross and Edo and Timcanpy. He might as well have taken his hand and led him there

"I'll let you go. I'll— I'll make up a story. Just please, help them if you can," he said and Allen was shocked when two hands reached up and a second later, the chains binding his wrists fell away. Something was pushed into his freed arms—fresh clothes, he knew from the fabric under his fingertips.

"It won't fit you well, but I tried to find one close to what I assume your size is. It's an Exorcist uniform, but it'll help protect you. And..."

Silence drifted between the two of them as the nameless, faceless stranger trailed off. Why was he hesitating?

Allen understood when he continued, "The Exorcists won't realize you're a Noah."

"I'll need something done about this," Allen said, gesturing as his left arm with his right. It was dead weight, the the seals making it feel like lead. The Innocence that his arm was made of was manipulated by the paper and it crippled his abilities as a Noah—his enhanced healing, in particular. His vocal chords should have taken mere hours to heal, but judging by Lavi's arrival in Edo, it had been _days _since he'd seen the redhead and there'd been a short space of time between that and when he actually received the wound.

"I know the password, but Lvellie will be alerted immediately. He'll be here within minutes."

"That's plenty of time," Allen said tonelessly as he struggled to stand with his weighted arm. "But... If I save them, you'll let me go?" There was no way he'd keep his word. _He just wants to get his sister back_, something whispered to him, reminding him that people would do whatever necessary to get what they wanted.

_This _was "necessary". Betraying him was the lesser of the two evils, as far as anyone else was concerned. Whether or not some kid ended up dead or worse was irrelevant, so long as the girl was found and saved. Lavi and whoever else was with her didn't even matter. If they came back, great! If they didn't, then oh well.

Allen grit his teeth. Humans disgusted him. All of them. Every last one of them thought only of themselves, even Lavi. The difference was that when Allen's thoughts moved to Lavi, it wasn't disgust that he felt. Instead, it was like someone had lodged a blade in his chest.

_He's one of those disgusting humans, _a grossly familiar voice whispered in his ear. _He'll betray you. All of them will. They're just using you until you've got no use left._

As promised, he was relieved of the seals. Free of the extra weight, Allen was quick to change into the Exorcist uniform offered to him and with a flick of his wrist, his torn and tattered clothing burst into black flame. They practically evaporated, leaving nothing in their wake thanks to the very essence of Allen's being—the destruction that made up his Noah power.

"I'll bring them back," Allen said before he reared his fist back and punched him square in the jaw. The man hit the floor with a resounding thud, rendered unconscious by even Allen's weakest blow. He could hear feet storming down the halls as he wordlessly pulled the bandana that hung around his neck up onto his forehead. It pushed the bangs out of his eyes as a cloak flickered into existence on his shoulders and a mask floated over his eyes.

"Or maybe... I'll be just as disgusting as the rest of you for once."

Lavi stared forward, looking into the inhuman grin of the man they now knew as a Noah. He pushed his hair back, revealing the row of stigmata as he stuck his tongue out at them. Up and down he tossed the key, talking about how they would need it to get home.

A foreign concoction of emotion washed over Lavi, perfectly melding anxiety with anticipation and disbelief with _re_lief. Like the sun itself had just followed them into hell, the Noah stopped bouncing the key up and down and stared at something that stood overhead. A sickening grin spread across his face.

"So you've been with the Exorcists, Boy! Your daddy's been worried."

As if on cue, a figure veiled in white leapt down from the open air above to stand between them and the Noah. On slender shoulders fluttered a long cloak, its collar and hood lined with fur bright enough to be confused for snow. It took Lavi several seconds to realize that it wasn't _all _fur, that some of it was short, white locks. What was noticeable was the green bandana that pushed the white hair back out of the owner's face.

His trained eye didn't miss the spots of blood that soiled the blue-green fabric and once his eye laid on it, he rushed forward. Pushing past Kanda and ignoring the grumpy samurai's growl, Lavi went to his little dove's side. There was a splash of blood on the bandana wrapped around his skull. Once again, he was hurt. Had his last horrific wound even had the opportunity to heal?

His hand wrapped around the white-haired Noah's upper arm and the boy jerked out of his grasp, as if he'd been burned. An unfamiliar pang of hurt struck him in the chest. "Al?" he asked tentatively, moving slower this time to touch the boy who calmed at the sound of his voice. His rigid posture loosened and Lavi was relieved when Allen allowed his fingertips to brush against the white cloak/

"Lavi…" he breathed, an English lilt in his voice. Tilting his head to the side to get a better view, he peered into the masks' eye holes. He sought the familiar sight of Allen's beautiful two-toned eyes: Silver splotched with a startling amber.

What he saw in the darkness was dull. Clouded.

"What're you—"

Allen didn't get to finish. Lavi pushed the mask away from his eyes to confirm his suspicions and when he saw those beautiful eyes dashed with gashes, he never hated being right more than he did now. Given the way the cuts overlapped, Lavi didn't need to ask how his vision was doing.

It _wasn't _doing. At all. Allen was blind.

He stood shocked and horrified, staring at the sight of the boy who seemed to know no happiness. Anger pulsed through him, blurring logical reasoning and emotional discharge. Hadn't those bastards done enough to him without adding this to it?

"Allen, you—"

"It's fine," Allen said in a hurry, pulling the mask back up over his eyes to hide the sight. Lavi's hands laid on Allen's shoulders. "It all comes back."

He repeated the words he'd spelled out to him about a week earlier. This time, his voice was clear and he could see that the scar across his neck had almost finished healing. It wasn't like the last time he'd seen him, when he'd been incapable of uttering even a single sound. Then, he'd clung to him out of fear. Now, he shrunk away from him for that very same reason.

"Ah, I see," Thick Lens said, interrupting their reunion before they could have one. "It's not that you've been with the Exorcists; you've been their prisoner. The Duke won't be happy to hear that."

A sadistic and carnal grin spread across his face and Lavi's stomach churned upon seeing it. Something wasn't right with these Noah. ... No, that wasn't quite right. He spared a glance back at his presently blind friend.

_Friend._

The word appeared in his thoughts before he could will it away. That's what they were, right? Like with Lenalee and even Kanda, Allen was his friend. It was a friendship fostered in a solitary, dark room with a beaten and bruised boy who was supposedly a danger to all of them.

That didn't change what it was at the end of the day.

The dark-haired Noah was nothing like Allen. They were two sides of the same coin, light and shadow, yin and yang... How could he doubt his disassociation with them when their differences stood before him, clear as day?

"He's not going to hear about it," Allen bit out, sharp, scathing tongue threatening to burn the ears of all those who heard the words.

"_Oh?_ Why not? He'd destroy the Order today if he found out they hurt his only son."

Lavi's green eye turned to stare at Allen, his mouth falling open. His _son_? Allen was the Earl's _son_? Allen offered no explanation. He neither saw his stare—for obvious reasons—nor felt all the eyes on him. At the very least, he made no indication that he He looked to him for an explanation, but Allen neither saw it—for obvious reasons—nor felt all the eyes that were on him.

"My father died," Allen said without missing a beat, his face impassive and unchanging as the Noah made comments on his personal life in front of perfect strangers. He was the son of not only a Noah, but the head of the family himself. Every time the other Noah opened his big mouth, Lavi became more and more aware that Allen was nothing like them. "Either way, the only way I'm coming with you is in a body bag."

The sadism in the Noah's face seeped out of it, replaced by genuine sorrow. He was _sad_? Because of Allen?

"I'm sorry to hear that, Boy. I've always wanted to try out your poker skills," he said, as if that was his biggest concern, but his tone dictated otherwise. It fell flat. No, rather than poker, what he was worried about was...

Nothing more was said and in the silence, Lavi reached forward and took the Allen's hand. The action surprised himself as much as it did Allen. With parted lips, Allen turned to him and Lavi clenched his hand tighter, intent on making him feel what he couldn't see. A second later, Allen returned the gesture with a small smile and a squeeze of his own.

_I'm here now, _he wanted to say as a smile crept onto his face, but the words refused to form around his tongue. The deepest part of him that remained a bookman held him back, reminding him that his duties weren't tied to the Order or their budding relationship. What had his loyalty—or what _should _have, rather—was history. He should've been devoted to the pages that lay yet unwritten; he should've been focused on filling those empty pages with words, but he couldn't tear his thoughts away from his newest friend.

Something about this boy drew him in like a moth to the flame. The Order hurt him and he bloomed like a spring flower after a rain shower. He wept bitter tears, but never wilted. The pain only served to bolster the bright and healthy blossom that he was.

It was enchanting.

"What were you saying earlier about a door, Thick Lens?" Lavi asked, changing the subject without fail. Allen looked at him and even though his eyes couldn't be seen, Lavi could read the amusement present in the barely visible smile that he wore. It kept Lavi's own smile seated on his face, but the Noah was another story.

He didn't bat an eyelash nor did he grin. The imposing stare would've scared anyone else, but the strong hand clasped in his own kept that reaction at bay. He didn't need to be told that Allen was powerful to know it. Everything down to the way he moved to the simplest twitch of his lips carried a beat and a rhythm. Lavi didn't know when he'd gotten so adept at reading it.

So long as Allen stood by his side, whatever the Noah had planned for them would fall flat.

But the sloppy dresser merely hummed, taking a drag of his cigarette before saying, "What do you need my help for when you have our precious musician right there? Just a thought and he can open the door that you need to get out."

It made sense. Allen had appeared out of nowhere. He had to have come there somehow and it certainly wasn't through the same door that _they _had.

"We'll be waiting, Boy," the Noah said, disappearing far beyond them as a part of a nearby building broke off and nearly crushed him.

As he made his exit, several of the Exorcists gasped at what would have been his death, if he were human. His mad laughter gave away that he remained alive as their attention turned to their only remaining clue: The blinded boy that stood next to Lavi.

Allen wasn't ignorant to their stares this time. Allen could feel their searing gazes on him and Lavi felt a strange sort of disappointment when the white-haired boy pulled his hand away from his. But what was worse were his words.

"You should all go," he said, sweeping his hand to the side and splitting the very air apart. It opened like a door and Lavi couldn't even be sure if he was surprised at this point. "I'll handle things from here."

"Wait, you're not telling us to leave us behind, are you?"

"I am," Allen said, his voice lacking in any kind of emotion. Just those two words and he came to hate that tone of voice; it was like he was still trapped in the Order's dungeons, waiting for someone to walk in at any moment and drive a heated blade into his gut. The boy who should've been a free man remained a caged bird, even in the face of emancipation.

With the way out opened, Kanda didn't look like he minded bailing. Hell, _none of them did_. The mention of Allen being the Earl's son—supposedly—had them all thinking that going back where they came from was a splendid idea, but Lavi couldn't disagree more.

It was a _terrible_ idea.

Even as some of them moved to leave, Lavi stayed stationary. He stood his ground in front of Allen, staring into the dark sockets of the mask that hid what they'd done to him. Allen had suffered and insisted on _perpetuating _that suffering.

He didn't deserve it.

Lavi tried to ignore his emotions, but it was impossible. The anger pulsed in his veins and the guilt ate away at his insides. His emotions ruled him, took a hold of him and it was they who forced him to speak, giving him no choice in the matter.

"No," he said, the forcefulness behind the single word giving Allen pause.

"No?" Allen repeated, sounding as confused as he did shocked.

Lavi couldn't leave Allen to fend for himself. Even though the boy was no doubt stronger than him, he'd left him once already and he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened as a result nor could he stop staring at the fading scar on his neck where the wound had been inflicted.

Lavi had failed horribly in his battle with the Noah and there was no doubt in his mind that Allen made all of them look like porcelain dolls in their strength, but that didn't keep him from volunteering to keep him company.

"Someone has to be your eyes, Niblet," he said with a smile that couldn't be seen by him, but shone through in his voice. Something urged Lavi forward. Curiosities that should never have been born kept him from backing down out of fear of the consequences. Why had Allen come here? Was it to save them? Was it to save _him_?

Why was that thought enough to make his smile widen?

These were questions that he wanted to know the answer to. That knowledge was a desire that ate away at him until it warped into a need that couldn't go unfulfilled.

He wanted answers.

He _needed _answers.

Were they friends, or was this just another part of the persona called "Lavi"? He couldn't gauge the authenticity of his own smiles aimed at the white-haired Noah and he couldn't help but wonder...

_Is this real or not?_

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed! I love hearing from you, even if I don't always reply, so please drop me a word or two if you have the time to spare!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Here's a nice, long(-ish?) chapter for you guys! Thank you for all the lovely words last chapter, as well as the favorites and alerts! Hope you guys enjoy!  
I'm sorry in advance for the tea.

* * *

Lavi refused to leave. Allen should have been infuriated that the redhead wouldn't listen to him even though the whole point of him _leaving _was so he could remain safe, but his words instead sent a warm tingle down his spine.

_"Someone has to be your eyes, Niblet."_

An unusually bright smile graced his lips and his lack of agitation towards the persistent nickname had his face burning a brilliant, tropical hue. He was suddenly glad for the mask that partially obscured his flushed face that _should _have been a result of anger. Instead of anger, a foreign dose of happiness spread through his body like a poison in his veins. His chest ached where his heart was supposed to be, where it lay broken from the abuse and neglect he'd suffered over the short fifteen years he'd lived.

Even the heart he'd thought half-dead beat loudly in his chest, as if to tell him that it appreciated Lavi's every gesture of generous affection.

What was it about the redhead that made him want to stand forever at his side? Was it the smoldering pain of loneliness he saw in his one eye? Was it the the deep, empty void hidden within every artificial smile?

"Lavi," Allen breathed with far too much emotion for his liking. Like he held onto every word and blink of his single green eye, his independence waned and dwindled and Allen wondered if he'd be able to stand on his own if Lavi disappeared tomorrow.

He was _supposed _to be alone. That was his fate as a Noah trusted by neither the family that claimed him nor the Exorcists he had been trained to join. The humans would never accept him because they were all the same. They were greedy and terrible, putting themselves before everyone else. He'd seen it more than once, but...

But Lavi was different, wasn't he?

This was more than a mere ploy for information, wasn't it?

The ache in his chest wasn't wholly unfamiliar, yet that didn't mean he fully understood it, either. It was a bite of hesitation served with a cup of Peach Momotaro tea that bore a delicate, floral taste with a fruity undertone that was true to its name and a leafy aftertaste that stemmed from the added passionflower.

None of the Exorcists spoke and that alone was enough to tell them that they were still considering walking out. Lavi was the only one who spoke with absolute certainty that even Allen didn't have. It made him want to push him right out of the gate. How else was he supposed to guarantee his safety?

Pushing him out of the Ark was the easiest method and the only way Allen knew he was _positive_ he'd come out unharmed. At the same time, he wanted to pull him close and never let go. He wanted to hold onto Lavi forever. His first friend. His _only_ friend.

"If you're staying, so am I," a female voice said, stepping forward to stand next to the both of them. "Your name's Allen?"

Surprising even himself, Allen tucked himself in Lavi's shadow, avoiding the pressure of her gaze. "Yes," he said with more confidence than he actually had when confronting a perfect stranger he couldn't see.

Lavi laughed and his stomach turned at the sound, like the fluttering of a thousand butterflies. "What's with you being so cute and shy all of a sudden?"

"Lavi!" Allen hissed, but felt a hand sweeping across his back, comforting him and pulling him out of Lavi's shadow. The redhead joined him as the center of the Exorcists' attention to make him feel more more at home. Each word that spilled from his lips was loud, as boisterous and bright as his audible smiles, but his actions spoke at double the volume. They screamed and shouted every intention and left none unheard, even if these things fell on deaf ears and the only ones capable of hearing the sweet song of every touch and smile were he and Lavi.

The soothing brush of Lavi's hand against his back told him that he understood, that the teasing was a glorified masquerade to disguise them both as effectively as the exaggerated smiles. He leaned into it and sunk easily into the sweet caresses that Lavi offered. He shouldn't have. Whether Lavi left him voluntarily or otherwise, it was inevitable that he'd end up alone again. Lavi's closeness made it easy to forget how deep and dark loneliness could be and when he was gone, that darkness would devour him whole. The further he leaned into him, the more the comfort of another person's warm body against his own became engrained in him.

He would forgot how to walk without someone else beside him, holding his hand and he'd fall from what little grace he had for that lapse in judgment.

But how could he possibly resist?

He _wanted _this.

He wanted the warmth and the smiles and the laughter, the simple gestures of affection that sparked life in his ailing heart. He wanted this to remain and continue undeterred and unclouded. He wanted—_needed_—the only friend he'd ever made to stay with him.

The other Exorcists slowly made their decisions, all of them choosing to stay for the same redhead that refused to leave him behind him. Lavi made that choice even knowing that he was their enemy by the very blood flowing through his veins.

They gave their introductions and Allen eventually came to know all their names by their voices alone. Crowley, Kanda, Chaoji and Lenalee. An odd bunch, to be sure, and some of them seemed less than enthusiastic about staying with the supposed son of the Earl, but it mattered little to Allen. Every part of him was content with just Lavi's acceptance, yet the fear that none of it was real still stood at the forefront of his mind. It was a nagging thought that haunted him every time Lavi smiled at him, parting the darkness that surrounded him.

He ignored the lackluster introductions and turned his attention to an issue more meaningful than their names. The Ark and the way it was collapsing at an alarming rate; it was nearly upon them.

"We need to go. This part of the Ark is about to collapse," Allen said as he urged Lavi to move forward by poking at his side. Lavi went rigid at the touch and Allen's seemingly perpetual turned sly. Was he _ticklish_? He'd have to test it out later and find out.

"Ark? Collapse? What?"

Lavi's question threw away the playful thoughts and drew a curse from him instead. Tyki had told them nothing. He'd said hello and walked off as if nothing was going on. Nothing that Allen couldn't explain, he realized and bit his lip. He was the reason they were uninformed. His vision was still black, but Allen made a point of turning his gray eyes to Lavi's. "Just trust me," he whispered, stretching his hand out to take the other's.

"I do," Lavi said, squeezing Allen's hand as the white-haired Noah paused. He... He did? He trusted him? They were just words and Allen could tell by the way Lavi acted that even his actions would be hard to accept as honest, but it was impossible to deny the truth held in them.

They were just words, yet the involuntary smile that lit Allen's face was enough to tell the both of them that they were exactly what he'd been hoping for.

In the next instant, the magic fell away as the ground beneath them cracked and gave away. Allen could feel himself slipping, but the hand clasped over his own refused to release him, instead pulling him away the ground already gone and onto that which would follow shortly.

"That's what you mean?!" Lavi screamed, eyes wide as he half-pulled Allen away from the crumbling edge. And when Allen stumbled, Lavi let out a curse and before he could even think to right himself, he was swept off his feet. Literally.

A squeal of surprise slipped out as Lavi lifted him into his arms. His hands flew to grip at the fabric of Lavi's shirt, feeling like he would fall if he didn't. "L-Lavi, wha—"

"Less talking, more navigating!"

He could feel the air rush past them as Lavi ran, their destination dictated by Allen's soft whispers and occasional gestures. With every one, Lavi screamed the order to his compatriots and they didn't stop running until they reached a location Allen pegged as safe. The progression of the Ark's download wasn't something he could slow down, even if he wanted to. They slowed to a stop and as Lavi stopped to catch his breath, Allen chose then to speak u[.

"Um, Lavi?"

"Yeah, Niblet?"

"Could you put me down?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure," Lavi said, not even having the courtesy to blush at the too-friendly contact. Somehow, Allen didn't mind, either. Instead, he felt an unsettling disappointment when Lavi let him down and his arm slipped from his firm shoulders. He didn't move far, only putting enough space between them to give the redhead room to breath.

Even as they stood there, half of them—Lavi included—trying to catch their breath, Allen knew from the way everyone kept a respectable distance that he was labeled as a person who couldn't be trusted.

It was understandable; he'd told them where to go in a ship of the Noah's creation Tyki had obnoxiously revealed that Allen was the Earl's son.

Whether or not they trusted him mattered precious little. The idea that they might fare well against the Noah was a pathetic joke, if anything at all; they _needed _him, even if they themselves didn't realize it or refused to acknowledge it. Would they even survive if he were absent?

_They wouldn't_, the devil living in the furthest corner of his mind reminded him. Gray eyes widened for only a fraction of the second. It was a voice he hadn't heard in months, but he pushed away the memory of the accursed Fourteenth in favor of the feel of Lavi's hand against his own. Even through their gloves, the contact radiated a pleasant heat that Allen wanted to bury himself in.

Lavi helped him along, led him through the cobblestone streets without sharing a word. Their conversations were in their gestures and body language, Lavi understanding where Allen bid them to go without ever being issued a direction. There was an understanding in the silence that spanned between them and Lavi effortlessly kept him from tripping over even the slightest of blemishes in the Ark's streets in the same way that he knew exactly where Allen thought they should go.

As they drew near to the door Allen knew would lead them to where they wanted to go, the comfortable silence finally got to one of their companions.

"Excuse me," Lenalee said, raising her voice to pierce the quiet that had apparently disturbed her. He didn't bother to look at her, knowing she would see little more than he would. Instead, he hummed, showing that she had his attention. "Isn't that Lavi's bandanna?"

"Oh!" Up until that moment, he'd forgotten about the cloth wrapped around his forehead. He reached up and could feel the spots of dried blood underneath his scaled fingers. He felt a flush of guilt because Lavi had left him with one thing and he'd completely ruined it. Wasn't he supposed to take good care of it?

His grip on Lavi's hand went rigid and the redhead wasn't obvious to that. Allen could almost feel his smile in the way his previously loose grip tightened. "Keep it."

"What?" Allen asked, disbelief going unhidden as Lavi continued to surprise him at every turn.

"It's lil' dirty, so I'll get us new ones when I get back."

"U-us?" Allen couldn't prevent the stutter. In the same breath, Lavi had given him a gift and spoke of the next. Allen couldn't even remember the last time he'd been given something without charge. A shy smile spread across his face, something that went unseen by the others only because they walked behind him.

"We're buds!" Lavi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Buds don't let buds go bandanaless!"

Allen laughed, unable to hold it back. It was warm and soft, genuine and happy. Lavi was so precious and Allen hoped that none of his promises were empty ones. He wanted every one to be true, yet his head told them they were a convenient lie, like so many other promises people had made to him. For a split second, when Lavi wrapped around his more firmly than before to help him up a step that his eyes couldn't show him, their fingers intertwined. They laced together with such fluidity that Allen might've sworn they'd always been like that.

A feminine giggle filled the air and Allen's high dimmed and faded in the span of a few, short seconds. Allen hadn't realized until then that the girl stood almost shoulder to shoulder to him and he stiffened when they barely brushed. He didn't move away, coaxed out of doing so by the hand joined with his own.

"I thought I knew all the Exorcists, but... You and Lavi seem really close."

"Oh, well—"

Allen was about to say it wasn't so, that they'd only known each other for a short time and the conditions they'd met under were far from the sweeter scenarios forming in her head. But as with all things, Lavi was quick to jump in and correct him when he'd barely opened his mouth.

"Yeah, we're best buds!" Lavi said and he could practically hear the exaggerated smile in the older boy's voice. He frowned at Lavi, unsure if it was born because of the fake expression or the blatant lie he'd told the girl. Either way, it brought a frown to Allen's face. They hadn't known each other long enough for anything of the sort, especially given what he knew of Lavi's personality as well as his knowledge of his own.

His head told him it was a trap, that Lavi was using him and there was nothing between them even _akin_ to friendship. But his heart pleaded with him to think otherwise, as if anything else would tear him to pieces.

And it would. He was lonely; he realized that now. For the longest time, he'd be alone and it wasn't until now that he knew what he'd been searching for. More than a place to belong, he wanted companionship. Friends. Love. Someone to care and worry for him and be given the same treatment from him.

He _liked _this. Even Lavi's fake grins were preferable to the silence of loneliness that he'd faced in the past few years. His only companions had been Timcanpy or his master, but now...

Now the thought of going back to that empty stretch of road with only his quiet companion and negligent master was a frightening one. It hurt to think about.

"There," Allen said, pointing at the door with his free hand. With his one word, he dispelled all conversation, but he could feel the questions in their gazes as Lavi listened to him.

As they closed in on it, it was a gruff and otherwise silent voice that questioned, "How can we trust this moyashi?"

_Moyashi?_ Allen's lips drew back into a snarl at a word that he knew, if only because of a dead man's memories.

"Don't let him get to you, Niblet," Lavi said softly, almost whispering the words in his ear like a spell capable of hypnotizing him. Allen's response died in his throat at the feeling of Lavi's hot breath on his ear. "C'mon."

Lavi tugged at his hand, ignoring Kanda's question as if it had never been posed. "This one, Al?" he asked him, to which the white-haired Noah nodded. The Ark sung to him, telling him exactly what door stood in front of them and what was beyond it.

"_Oi_," Kanda growled, but Lavi opened the door as if he hadn't heard him and he stepped into the room first without an ounce of hesitation. Allen followed hot on his heels, unwilling to let the Noah catch sight of Lavi without Allen there to protect him.

When the presence of said Noah washed over him, it hit him with the subtlety of a tidal wave that it was none other than...

"Skin Bolic," Allen said, voiding any emotion in his voice. Like nails on a chalkboard, his voice echoed and carried and affected everyone unprepared for it. The Exorcists reacted in kind, slamming their hands over their ears. Lavi only winced, knowing full well that Allen's voice was his most effective weapon.

"Allen Walker," the Noah ground out in return, crunching down on the lollipop caught between his teeth. His eyes flashed a dangerous gold when the Noah said his name, despite the fact that he could see little more than a few colorless blobs. "I was going to let you decide which of you I should fight first, but you being here makes it easy."

"You're sure you want to fight me, Skin?" he asked, an edge in his voice that was sharper than any knife. There was a threat in each individual word. "If you want to fight, then I'll—"

_Gladly oblige, _he was about to say before the redhead standing just a couple paces ahead swept a hand out in front of him, putting a barrier between him and the Noah.

"Lavi?"

His voice was quiet, but the emotions pulsing through his body were not. Heat blossomed from his chest. Allen felt nigh invisible, like the whole world could crash down upon them both and they'd remain untouched. It didn't matter what it was, every sweet thing that Lavi did made it easier to accept whatever their relationship was.

What he was starting to realize was that it didn't matter if it was real to Lavi or not.

What mattered was...

"I told you I'd be your eyes, right?" Lavi said and for a moment, he thought he saw the briefest flicker in his bright green eye. Anger. Allen could hear the heat in his voice like he could feel the warmth radiating from his skin and through the thick fabric of his uniform. "Didn't say I was gonna let you fight like that, Niblet."

"You're joking. You can't fight him, Lavi."

"And why not?"

"Because you're—" Allen cut himself, thinking of the Exorcists they were with before leaning in so close that Allen's chest brushed Lavi's back with every breath he took in. When he whispered to the redhead, his breath tickled past his ear. Lavi relaxed against the mismatched hands pressed against his shoulder blades, playing with the fabric like he might disappear if they separated. "You're human, Lavi. He'll kill you."

They went back and forth for several minutes, their bickering taking place in hushed whispered heard only by each other. Their concern for one another overrode all other senses, leaving Skin Bolic to grow impatient in the face of his indecisive opponents.

"As I said, if you fight him—"

"Woah, Yu, you're going to fight him?" Lavi said abruptly, cutting off Allen in the middle of his sentence. An annoyed grunt escaped the white-haired boy. While he didn't appreciate the interrupt, he _was _sort of thankful for it. At the very least, it put the matter of who was fighting to rest and put his argument with Lavi to rest. Talking in circles was exhausting, especially when one factored in two people as stubborn as them.

"You who?" Allen asked, wondering why Lavi was stuttering or who he was referring to.

"No, _Yu_, Niblet! Yu Kanda!"

"Don't call me that, _Baka Usagi_," the aforementioned Japanese man growled and Allen heard the distinct _shing_ of a sword being drawn. A squeak of sounded from the body he was pressed against and he didn't stop to think. He threw his left hand forward and caught the blade of the sword before it could come anywhere near Lavi. "You got a problem, Moyashi?"

"More than one," Allen said flatly. If the samurai had a reaction to his words, he could neither feel it nor see it, but he knew he was listening regardless. "If you threaten Lavi, you're threatening me."

What cut through the tension with ease was Lavi's usual laugh. It filled the air and lightened the mood in a way that only Lavi could manage. A hand settled on top of his own and Allen knew only one who'd dare touch that horrific, scaly hand of his willingly. With a gentle upward curve of his lips, he relented to Lavi's unspoken request and withdrew his hand. "Careful, Niblet. Yu might actually try to— Yikes!"

For the second time, Allen felt and heard the sword move past his ear to put the redhead in his place, but the blade was knocked aside by the same hand he'd used to take hold of it a mere moment ago. His Innocence pushed the other's aside as if it were little more than a toy meant for and given to a child that couldn't yet handle a real one.

And if his persistent temper tantrums were anything to go by, that description probably proved accurate.

"Keep doing stuff like that, Al, and I might just fall for you," Lavi said with something akin to a laugh, which Allen greeted with one of his own. It was easy to brush such comments off, but the gestures of genuine affection lit a fire in his chest and gave him an unquenchable thirst for more, whether it was a smile or a laugh or the smallest brush of the skin. Every subtle clue put a grin on his face that rivaled even Lavi's.

Even an ounce of contact made him realize how empty his life had been before, that he'd been stuck in a world veiled in night that had no day. Then Lavi had showed up out of the blue, carrying the sun on his back.

And Allen was blinded because it was too bright to see after all the time he'd spent without it. But he clung to it and the heat on his skin.

"What're you saying, Lavi? We've barely just met."

The crook of a smile betrayed his words, illustrating his honest amusement and appreciation for his friend's every effort to calm the rigid atmosphere. He had a talent for it, too. His presence alone was reassuring and Allen would be appalled—and _offended_—if none of the others thought the same.

Allen wiped his own happiness away, hiding the traces of its existence behind a deep frown and a few words of warning. "Skin Bolic is getting impatient."

His irritation was in the air, but the man gnashing down on his suckers with growing ferocity wove a more intricate tale. He wouldn't wait much longer for them to settle their issues. While he might observe them, he had no interest in their petty squabbles, even if Allen could hear the occasional chuckle when Kanda threatened them. "Do you really intend on fighting him, Kanda?"

"He's the one after my General; I've seen him a few times. I was starting to think he couldn't fight."

"Oh, he can fight," Allen said, certainty in his voice. It was hard _not _to be certain. He'd been the victim of his electrical charges more than once. "Cut him with your sword and an electrical current will pass through your body. You should probably be careful of that. Or you could back out and let me—"

"Not happening!" Lavi sung out.

"—Fight him instead," Allen continued, unimpeded by Lavi's momentary interruption. Lavi wouldn't leave it at that, but that didn't stop Allen from offering. He was no burden and he hated to be treated like one. Yet... At the same time, there was something about being protected that he _liked_—and that appalled him.

"I'm fighting him." The samurai's words triggered the beginning of the battle, Skin Bolic's patience reaching its limits as he charged towards them. Through the eye holes of his mask, the fight was a cloudy blur, but the sounds of the ensuing battle weren't lost on him.

"We should get going," Allen whispered to his friend as he slowly pulled away. His left hand drifted to Lavi's shoulder, lingered a moment a slipped off before the redhead reached behind him, took his hand and led him to the exit.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" the girl—Lenalee, he reminded himself—asked one of her comrades in a voice so quiet she likely wasn't aware Allen heard her. Allen didn't cut in; he didn't respond. These people were strangers and even Lavi was to some extent. He didn't have a place to say one way or the other whether Yu Kanda would survive.

The half of him that remained human said he'd be fine, but the blackened blood flowing through his veins chose to remind him how strong the Noah were. It chose to remind him they could crush the Exorcists beneath their heel at any time and that he was fully capable of doing the very same thing.

_He'll die, _a grossly familiar voice whispered from the deepest, darkest part of his mind. Allen pressed a hand over his ear, as if it would shut out the ghost's haunting. Lavi noticed, too. He had a talent for that, too, it seemed.

"Something wrong, Niblet?"

"No... It's nothing."

Had his eyes been visible, the smile he wore wouldn't have reached them.

* * *

**A/N: **Yes, I like it when they hold hands, _sue me_.  
Why do I want so badly to make them dancing buddies, aaaahhhh.

I have a love/hate relationship with comparing Allen and Lavi's relationship to tea. It's so fun to experiment with comparisons like that, but _I know jack shit about tea. _I spent like two hours editing that paragraph. It did _not _want to work with me. OTL


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Look! I'm alive! Shocker, I know.  
Been extremely distracted this past month with role playing and this chapter is _really _short, as if the former wasn't bad enough alone.

* * *

They stepped into another hall and worse than the silence of death was the one they'd been plunged into when they set foot on the tile floor. The deep frown that settled into Allen's features was picked apart by the male who pulled him along, whose hand wrapped around his own seemed to settle the tight knot growing in his stomach.

Lavi led him and Allen let him, unable to do much else until his Noah genes kicked in and repaired the damage done to his eyes. Lavi remained a colorless blur to the eyes that hid behind the mask that hid the horror of his blinding.

The hand that held his own balanced out the smoldering anxiety that was the direct result of his being unable to see. The contact continued to exude a comforting serenity until a scream filled the air around him, coming from every surface. The Ark's song turned horrific, curdling his blood. It was a sound so jarring and painful that he actually ripped his hand away from Lavi's to cover his sensitive ears.

Through the screamed message only he could hear, he struggled to comprehend the message she tried to convey. He barely felt Lavi's hand on his shoulder and the other curled over Allen's hideous, scaled one. But like that alone gave him clarity, he realized what she was trying to say.

"Run," Allen said as his right hand slipped away from his ear, taking Lavi's with it.

"What?"

"_Run!" _Allen yelled this time, reversing the grip Lavi had on his hand to grabbed his wrist. In the same breath, he took off running down the hall and as soon as he did, the sounds of the hall collapsing behind them reverberated off the walls. The tile crumbled and fell below into the white abyss. Every tile they stepped on was doomed to slip from beneath their feet a second later.

Finally, the tile caught up with them and a feminine screech brought everything to a grounding halt. Allen's feet didn't stop. Instead, it was Lavi who did, nearly dragging Allen off down to the ground from the abruptness of it. A pang of hurt hit him in the chest, but he quickly threw it away.

Of course Lavi had other concerns besides him. Just because Allen only had one friend didn't mean the same was true for Lavi. It shouldn't have hurt, but the bitter taste of jealousy on his tongue was enough to tell him that whether or not it _should _have meant little. One fell, then two and the vampire turned to help them.

Allen beat the both of them to it. The white ribbons wrapped around his legs uncurled themselves, grabbing onto the wrists of the female Exorcist and the one civilian before the whole floor collapse beneath. Jerking on Lavi's hand again, they took off running again, but little distance was put between them and the advancing collapse before Lavi was jerked out of his hand.

If not for the arm that wrapped around his shoulders a second later, Allen would have come to a dead stop right there.

He stiffened at the foreign contact. New and unfamiliar, the arm didn't belong to the redhead and it was too broad to belong to either Lenalee or Chaozii. With his eyes, he had to hazard a guess as to who grabbed him.

"Crowley?" Allen asked tentatively just before the repugnant scent of blood—_Akuma_ blood—filled his nostrils.

"Let's cut through it! Hang on tight, kids!"

Before Allen could inquire about what he meant, the older man took off, pulling all of them with surprising ease. The movement caused Allen to yelp, startled by the abruptness of the take off. Not a few seconds later, he found himself pointing in the general direction of what he hoped was an opening with his long, clawed finger. "Th-there's an opening over there, isn't there?" he shouted to the Exorcist pulling them all along.

The Exorcist didn't respond, instead flying through the assumed opening and when they landed, he was thrown to the floor like a rag doll—but judging by a familiar-sounding groan, he didn't hit near as painfully as Lavi did. A growl of annoyance rumbled from the deepest part of Allen's throat in response, if only because his gentler collision was credited to the two he'd been pulling along with his Innocence.

Allen pushed himself to his feet, losing interest in the others in favor of the warning the Ark screamed out to him. Someone else was in the room. _Two _of them, at that.

"Looks like an archive," Lavi muttered, a hint of intrigue in his otherwise toneless voice. Despite the short time they'd known each other, Allen could feel his enthusiasm bubbling over when their shoulders brushed as they both stood and as much as Allen would've liked to give him a few moments with whatever books slept there, his concerns lie elsewhere.

"Devit, Jasdero," Allen greeted, head turning in their general direction to acknowledge their presence, no matter how godawful it was.

"That's _Jasdevi_ to you, traitor!" they both screamed out as wind swept past Allen. It took him mere seconds to realize that what stood between he and the Noah wasn't wind at all.

"Lavi?!"

"Divine punishment!"

Allen grasped Lavi's upper arm, poking his head out from behind the redhead just enough to let out a deafening roar that split the very air in front of them. The attack crashed into an invisible barrier and fanned out to both sides until it collided with the bookshelves that lined the walls.

Words were not said and breaths were not taken as the only sound that disrupted the ensuing silence was the debris that hit the tile floor. Loose pages scattered and fluttered to the ground while books fell faster to greet the floor, slamming against it with startling bangs. The air remained still and almost peaceful until the twins exploded with uncontrollable laughter.

Allen's eyebrow twitched.

"L-look, the musician's protective of— _of_—"

"An _Exorcist_!" Devit finished for his brother. Allen's hands curled into fists at the words, his knuckles turning sheet white. What did it matter? Lavi wasn't even a "proper" Exorcist; he was a Bookman. One that had tried to protect him, even if Allen had ended up protecting _him. _

"What's wrong with that?" Allen scoffed, voice scathing as he addressed the twins with the same ferocity he'd greet the Earl himself with.

"Nothing!" the twins spoke in unison, punctuating the single word with their joined laughter. "You gonna betray them like you did us?"

"Considering I never betray you, yes. I intend to do the same with them," Allen muttered dryly as his smile drooped, far from happy with where the conversation was headed. "Did you two need something, anyways?"

"Well, for _starters_—"

"Sorry, did my master leave you another debt?" Allen asked, not looking half as apologetic as he sounded. If they fell for whatever bullshit trick he'd laid on them, they had no one but themselves to blame. It was their own stupidity at work as Allen had spent several years under the man, but had managed to evade incurring any kind of debt for weeks on end. His streak was six weeks, prior to being dragged off to the Order like some animal.

How long it had been now remained a mystery to him. It felt as though weeks had faded into months and months into years.

Grins tore their way across the faces of both halves of the Noah Of Bonds. He heard them move, felt Lavi push him further behind him in some futile attempt to protect him, but where they moved _to _remained a mystery to him until they had the two of them surrounded. They gave this away themselves. "The student should pay the master's bills!"

"Loading!" they yelled, giving Allen only a second to throw himself into Lavi, his long cloak growing around them to protect them from the impending attack. "_Blue bomb_!"

Allen felt the impact, but only the pressure of it pressing against his cloak, like something heavy weighing upon him. Lavi's arm coiled around him as they fired a barrage of bullets. If real bullets were in the guns, they surely would've run dry a long time ago.

"Did the power of their gun change?" Lavi asked, given the luxury of staying calm because of Allen's Innocence covering and safeguarding them from the Noah's onslaught.

"No, it's the bullets," Allen explained, not moving a muscle or daring to step away. If Lavi asked, he'd probably say it was because his cloak could only extend so far, but the truth was harder to understand than that. He didn't want to move away from him whether it was a step, an inch or even a centimeter. Allen wanted to stay right next to Lavi, pressed up against him for as long as whatever god existed would grant them.

"Jasdero and Devit have the power of materialization," Allen explained as the twins finally stopped. The frost created by the bullets bit into his skin through the white fabric of his cloak, but the warmth radiating from Lavi kept his shivers at bay. "They can materialize anything they think of at the same time. They're also one Noah; they're much stronger in one body."

He wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever, but the world stood still for no one. This Allen knew as his cloak reverted to its former size and Lavi nodded, digesting the supplied information with ease.

Allen could feel the twins' anger leaking into him through the soles of his feet, communicated to him by the Ark. The sadistic grins spreading across their faces was predictable, at best. He didn't need to see them to know they were there; he could hear it in every word.

"I guess you'll just have to entertain us for now, Fourteenth."


End file.
